Patti Smith comes to Leamington!

One of our favourite publishers Bloomsbury recently asked us to support a Patti Smith event at the terrific venue of the Assembly Rooms in Leamington and being children of the sixties ourselves we naturally jumped at the chance. What a super evening we had. Patti, pictured here with Frances, was the loveliest lady you could imagine. She was here to read from her newly published biography of her years with Robert Mapplethorpe Just Kids and of course to sing. She signed 200 books for us, and if you’re lucky we may have just one or two signed copies left. But they were selling like hot cakes to the packed and appreciative audience who really enjoyed this trip down  beat/ rock/ punk/poetry lane.

Just to show how iconic a star Patti is, she is shortly attending the annual Pop Music Awards, taking place April 21, 2010 at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles, California. where she will be presented with the prestigious American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Founders Award.

The ASCAP Founders Award is among the most prestigious honors that ASCAP gives to songwriters and composers who have made pioneering contributions to music by inspiring and influencing their fellow music creators. Each recipient is a musical innovator who possesses a unique style of creative genius and past recipients include Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, Heart’s Ann & Nancy Wilson, Billy Joel, Annie Lennox, Sir Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Smokey Robinson, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Tom Waits, Stevie Wonder and Neil Young.

Commenting on the award to Smith, ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams said: “Patti fused raw rock energy with the heart of a poet and ignited the 1970s New York punk scene. She expanded the boundaries of artistic expression, musically and otherwise, inspiring generations of rockers worldwide. She continues to be a vibrant, prolific artist, working in a wide variety of media. We are very proud to honor Patti Smith with ASCAP’s Founders Award.”

The stunning 1920’s art-deco venue where Patti performed is the brainchild of music industry entrepreneur Nigel Dally who invested £3.2 million pounds to renovate and restore the venue to its former glory with the help of renowned designer Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen. Since opening, the one thousand capacity venue has earned itself the coveted title of best live performance venue for its accommodating, yet intimate atmosphere along with its technologically advanced light and sound systems and brilliant interior design………if you haven’t been, you must! We were lucky enough to be shown round the backstage area by Nigel which along with three changing rooms, an artist bar, a World War II Gatling Gun, pool tables and dodgems, also plays host to the original pink gypsy caravan belonging to none other than Country music sensation Tammy Wynette. Fabulous!